30 October 2011

The Spaceships of Virgin Galactic

500 people have already booked flights. The trip will last two and a half hours. Tickets cost US$200,000. And deposits start at US$20,000.

Yep. It's not a trip on a private jet plane. It's more than a trip on a Gulfstream G5 or a Lear Jet, its on a space ship and it's to outer space. The trip promises a view of the Earth just as the astronauts do when going into space. The flight also includes five minutes of weightlessness.

Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic have been on the spotlight since he announced commercial flights to outer space. He recently opened Spaceport America in New Mexico. Sir Richard calls it the "Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space". The take off and landing site for the service.

With names like Space Ship Two, White Knight Two and even Mothership Eve, what do the spaceships look like? Here's an animated video of the space vehicles and how they will bring people into space. It truly is a great video on it:

So, what do you think? As already mentioned, it's not really a private chartered flight on a jet plane from Tokyo to New York. But for 200k, that flight should serve some killer food.

Oh wait, did I mention that the commercial first flights will start around 2013?